Awardees

Usha Mangeshkar - S.D. Burman awardee

A unique voice that has a beautiful melodious sound and vast range, and a charming personality, beautiful smile! Perhaps these are the most lovable qualities of legendary singer Usha Mangeshkar.

Born in a musical family of Mangeshkars, she is younger sister to Lata Mangeshkar, and Asha Bhosale. While elder sister to Hridaynath Mangeshkar. As a singer, she started at young age with Hindi and, Marathi films, along with her sisters. However, her unique voice quality and style made her stand out. She has sung in more than 10 Indian languages.

She became a household name in the entire country with her song - Aarti Utaroon Re Santoshi Maata Ki from the devotional film Jai Santoshi Maa (1975). The song was nominated and won many awards for Usha Mangeshkar. Her singing quality made legendary composer S. D. Burman trust her with Mere Toh Giridhar Gopal from Phagun. Apart from devotional bhajans and songs, she is well known to everyone for catchy songs like Mungada from Inkaar and, and Aplam Chaplam from Azaad. Her singing career in Marathi is an entirely different chapter with popularizing the folk art of Lavni through her powerful singing. 21st PIFF honors Ushaji with S. D. Burman Award for Creative Music and Sound for her outstanding contribution in the field of music.

Manoj Kumar - PIFF Distinguish awardee

The early years of independent India. The nation was rising after centuries of oppression. The motivation to make the nation better was much needed. The country turned to cinematic stories for it, and only one man made the entire nation charged with patriotism – Manoj Kumar. Born as Harikishan Goswami, he took the name Manoj Kumar as his stage name. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic themes.
Starting career with romantic films like in the 1960s like Honeymoon, Apna Banake Dekho, Naqli Nawab, Paththar Ke Sanam, Sajan and others, he became a successful actor. His acting prowess was shown in thriller films like Woh Kaun Thi? and, Gumnaam. Manoj Kumar became a name synonymous with hit films.

In 1965, he starred in a biopic based on Shaheed Bhagat Singh's life - Shaheed (1965). After that, his tryst with patriotic films started, as then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri requested him to make a film on national campaign of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. Manoj Kumar debuted as a director with his successful film Upkaar (1967). Since then, Manoj Kumar has made memorable films like - Purab Aur Paschim (1970), Shor (1972), Roti, Kapda, Aur Makaan (1974) and, most notable Kranti (1981).

For his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, 21st PIFF is proud to honor Mr. Manoj Kumar.

Enoch Daniels - PIFF Distinguish awardee

A much loved and well-respected figure in the film-industry for almost six decades, Enoch Daniels is known for his work as a film arranger/composer, and for his instrumental albums of rendition of film tunes on the piano- accordion.

Born on April 16th, 1933 in Pune, he was raised in a musical family with religious and church music playing an important role in his early years. As a young performer, Enoch was gaining popularity with his regular appearances on stage. The accordion was a relatively unknown instrument in India at that time, and Enoch was the first exponent of this instrument here.

He toured across the globe with many legendary singers, musicians, and performed in hundreds of shows. Besides his performing career, Enoch has been a busy arranger and sessions musician in the film industry. He has worked with prominent music directors such as S.D. Burman, C. Ramchandra, Shanker - Jaikishen, Vasant Desai, Salil Chowdhury, Khayyam, Ravi, Madan Mohan, O.P. Nayar, N. Dutta, Ram Kadam and Sudhir Phadke. Since 1963 he has worked as an arranger for background and film scores. Among his noteworthy films are Kabhie Kabhie, Trishul, Choti Si Baat, Pinjara and the entire re-recording in stereo of the classic V. Shantaram film, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje

PIFF honours this legendary musician with PIFF Distinguished Award for contribution to cinema.

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